As a brand, ATC’s seem to have a growing following among forum members.
Prima facie, the active speakers offer exceptional vfm, providing you like what they do. If I had the £££ and a suitably sized room, I would love to try out the SCM150ASLT.
They are quite stable, with three spikes. There is a glass panel at the back with two two spikes, so the column looks like it is free standing. Q Acoustic Concept 20 Stands.
ATC is a brand I have long known and admired. I would love to hear their upper models, in particular SCM100A and SCM150A, though would consider hearing the 40A if I had for some reason to downsize room.
Their 3” dome unit, used in all their speakers from SCM40 upwards, dates back to the mid 1970s and is still in production today It is widely recognised as one of the best ever midrange drivers, over the years having appeared in top hifi speakers from a number of manufacturers, such as PMC and Proac - until, IIUC, ATC stopped supplying to hifi competitors (presumably around the time that they stared to get serious about the hifi market, prior to that largely ignoring it). Sadly a few years ago they also stopped supplying it to the DIY market - but I bought mine a before that.
So that brings me to my ATCs - which are just this mid unit. They are combined with a Scanspeak tweeter, in a “satellite” enclosure (in prototype at present, unfinished). They presently, and nominally on a temporary basis, sit on top of my PMC EB1i speakers which now serve only for bass, the whole actively triamped. The huge magnet of the ATC unit means each satellite weighs best part of 10Kg!
To me the higher you go in the series the likely better they sound, subject to room not being too small, the difference being the bottom end. 40 is what I see as tge entry point, then 50, 100, 150. I expect the actives to sound best, or at least no worse, compared to other amps, being matched to tge speakers’ reequirements.
The SCM40A just seems such ridiculously good value for money, which no doubt is a factor in its favour - I think the 50A is a significant step up in price,
I’ve had my ATC 40a for very nearly 6 years, and still can’t quite believe how little they actually cost me to upgrade from previous passive set up. After selling my old speakers, cables and 250 amp…they cost roughly price of 2 gallons of petrol (then) or one now.
Plus they have stopped any upgraditis whilst I wait for N272 replacement …but now I see in these pictures some wide base stands and I think ooh what are those ?
I love the 50 ASL too and am very tempted tbh , I almost ordered some in the summer but I was faffing over what finish to get … The dealer here has a Cherry pair that look lovely but I’m always worried about the Cherry fading .